NEWTON, Iowa - The NTT IndyCar Series returned to Iowa Speedway where Team Penske dominated the Hawkeye State doubleheader as Scott McLaughlin and Will Power went to Victory Lane during the Hy-Vee IndyCar Race Weekend.
The pair of podium finishes (first and third place) promoted McLaughlin to 18th in the GRID Ranking for Week 15, with Power ahead of him in 12th. Team Penske also swept the Iowa doubleheader a year ago, with Josef Newgarden sweeping the weekend in 2023.
Since joining Team Penske as a full-time driver in 2021, McLaughlin has been right at home in America. The three-time Repco Supercars champion and Bathurst 1000 winner picked up his sixth career IndyCar win in the Hy-Vee Homefront 250 on Saturday night.
Despite adding the pole for the 108th Indianapolis 500 to his name earlier this year, the 2019 GRID Ranking runner-up finisher still felt like something was missing for him to truly feel like he belonged in the open-wheel racing series.
“I didn’t want to call myself an IndyCar driver until I won an oval,” McLaughlin said. “So, I’m going to call myself an IndyCar driver now.”
After passing polesitter Colton Herta for the lead, McLaughlin did not look back, leading the remaining 164 laps en route to his first oval win. The driver of the No. 3 XPEL Chevrolet held off past Iowa winners Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden.
This was truly a win that the Kiwi has been working toward since the beginning of his IndyCar journey.
“At the end of the day I did the job in some ways from my perspective but it was a team win,” McLaughlin added. “They put me out in front and got me the lead. I was able to show how good our car was just controlling the pace at the front.”
McLaughlin’s season has seen him outside of the GRID Ranking for a majority of the season. But his dominant performance Saturday followed by a podium finish the next day rockets him up to 18th on the leaderboard, just behind Formula E driver and fellow countryman Nick Cassidy.
After taking the checkered flag at Road America, Power ended a drought of just over two years. He earned his first road-course victory since winning on the streets of Detroit in 2022.
When he took the win on Sunday afternoon in the Hy-Vee One Step 250, the Australian ended a drought nearly five years in the making.
In his 19th career start at Iowa, Power took the No.12 Verizon Business Chevrolet to Victory Lane for the first time at the 0.894-mile short oval. It was also his first oval win since 2019 at Pocono Raceway.
It seemed like the only way was up for Power, following a disappointing race on Saturday night after making contact with Pietro Fittipaldi. But come Sunday afternoon, he fought tooth and nail, working his way to the front from 22nd place.
“Massive fuel (saving),” Power said. “(I was) just sitting in the pack. I had a really good car, a really fast car, so I sat in the back and used that pace to save fuel and get a massive number.”
A caution helped Power catch up to race leader Palou before the final round of green flag pit stops. Quick service by the No. 12 crew was the deciding factor as they jumped Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing crew in the pits. This gave Power the lead to the finish.
“I’ve been trying to win this race for years, so I’m over the moon,” Power said.
With two wins to his name this year, Power leaves the Hawkeye State 35 points behind championship leader Palou. Despite getting a win at Iowa, Power’s Saturday night struggles still affected him in the GRID Ranking.
MotoGP’s Marc Marquez edged out Power for 11th in the ranking, after the Ducati rider stood on the podium in Germany.
Outside Victory Lane
Alex Palou’s championship points lead decreased following the Iowa Speedway doubleheader after the Spaniard spun on Saturday night, but the two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion remains the leader. After finishing 23rd in the first race, this was not only his worst result in two years but he saw his 48-point lead drop to 37.
It was an “unacceptable” mistake in his own words, but a runner-up result in the second and final Iowa race helped stop the bleeding, with a 35-point gap over Will Power heading to Toronto.
The driver of the No. 10 DHL Honda fell back in the GRID Ranking as well, dropping from fifth to seventh. Palou was overtaken by World Rally Championship ace Sebastien Ogier, and Supercars driver Broc Feeney.
However, Palou remains the highest-ranked IndyCar driver in Week 15 of the GRID Ranking.
“It’s been a weekend where we had a ton of speed compared to what we had before qualifying third and second,” Palou said after Sunday’s race. “Happy today that we’re in second. Bit of a shame that (I) couldn’t really do anything to pass or to do anything.”
Pato O’Ward was four-tenths of a second away from going back-to-back Saturday night after his win at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last time out. A winner in 2022 at Iowa, O’Ward seemed like the only one who could bring the fight to Penske in the first race of the weekend.
The No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet chased down Scott McLaughlin while Josef Newgarden was hot on his heels.
However, it would not be enough as O’Ward had to settle for second place. Consistency remained the name of the game, with the Arrow McLaren driver settling for sixth place in the second Iowa race
A pair of good results kept the 25-year-old Mexican driver in championship contention. O’Ward is currently 52 points back from Palou.
He also gained three positions in this week's GRID Ranking, sitting 20th overall.
Disaster struck for Colton Herta in the first race of the doubleheader. After Herta started on the pole Saturday night, he lost the lead to McLaughlin in the pits, before tire vibrations demoted him to third.
On the following trip to pit lane, he got a good view of Palou’s crash on the frontstretch from his pit box. The caution sent the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda to the rear and out of contention for the win, coming home in 11th.
A top-five finish on Sunday kept Herta 79 points back from Palou, and he is still at the table for the championship battle, currently sitting sixth in points
After placing 24th overall in last week’s GRID Ranking, Herta’s poor performance under the lights saw him fall out of the ranking entirely in Week 15.
Sting Ray Robb Goes Airborne
On the final lap of Sunday’s Hy-Vee One Step 250, AJ Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb went for a wild ride on the backstretch as race winner Will Power took the checkered flag.
As Alexander Rossi slowed up, Robb’s No. 41 Goodheart Vet/Pray.com Chevrolet got airborne after flying over the Arrow McLaren driver. Robb flipped a couple of times before coming to rest upside down following a slide down the backstretch.
The AMR Safety Team was on the scene quickly to get Robb’s car on all four wheels again and help him get out of the car. To be on the safe side, Robb was placed onto a stretcher and taken to a local hospital for further evaluation where he was later checked and released later that night.
In a chain reaction, Kyle Kirkwood and Ed Carpenter were also involved in a separate incident trying to avoid the chaotic scene. It all ended with Carpenter’s wheel resting on top of Kirkwood’s Aeroscreen, which arguably saved the Andretti Global driver from a terrible outcome.
“First, I hope that everyone that was involved in the incident today is OK,” Kirkwood said. “It was definitely a very scary wreck. As soon as I saw that the cars ahead of me were actually slowing down so much because Rossi was already going slow and Sting Ray was in the air, I lifted out of the throttle out of the corner and then instantly spun myself. Thanks to the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team for getting there in seconds and helping us in those scary situations.”
All drivers involved in the last-lap crash ended up walking away as IndyCar later cleared Robb to race this weekend on the streets of Toronto.
GRID Ranking
The 2024 GRID Ranking is the eighth year of the world's premier motorsport ranking and was initially released on Sunday, April 7.
The official ranking includes drivers that participate in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP), and each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.
GRID Ranking Week 15 INDYCAR Drivers:
DRIVER | OLD RATING | PREVIOUS RANKING | MOST RECENT FINISH | NEW RATING | NEW RANKING |
Alex Palou | 16.31 | 5th | 2nd | 15.21 | 7th |
Will Power | 11.88 | 15th | 1st | 12.87 | 12th |
Scott Dixon | 11.77 | 16th | 4th | 12.06 | 15th |
Scott McLaughlin | N/A | N/A | 3rd | 11.52 | 18th |
Pato O'Ward | 10.26 | 23rd | 6th | 11.25 | 20th |
This coming weekend, the NTT IndyCar Series heads north of the border to Canada for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto at Exhibition Place.
Coverage for IndyCar’s only international event begins on Sunday, July 21 at 1 p.m. ET on Peacock.
Results: 2024 Hy-Vee Homefront 250 at Iowa Speedway
Results: 2024 Hy-Vee One Step 250 at Iowa Speedway
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